Plastic Canvas

So, following on from yesterday's post introducing you to my newest, perfect, portable craft...

I came across CraftyPod a couple of weeks ago when I was searching for some help getting to grips with 'watermarking' my photos - there was a very useful post on that, but I still haven't managed to get started with it, I got a bit distracted having a good browse round the rest of the blog!

There are quite a lot of quilting related posts which caught my eye for a start. Diane, who writes the blog, has also just had a quilting book published - Quilting Happiness - and she's recently done several posts on quilting stories she collected that didn't manage to make it into the finished book. And since I've really enjoyed reading the reject bits of the book, I think maybe I'd love the actual book - I have high hopes that it may be winging its way to me as a birthday present from my lovely Mother-in-Law, so I'll let you know!

But, as well as the quilting, my eye was very much caught by posts on plastic canvas. Not something I'd seen anything of before, but as soon as I saw these plastic canvas circles in a table runner...



Spot the perfect little 'www.craftypod.com' watermark at the bottom of the photo, that's what I need to get started on!


 I knew it was just what I needed to make some circular 'bunting' to hang in my living room. I've been wanting to make something along these lines for ages, to echo the wool 'pennies' that are in my rug and cushions (I'll show you them when I've got the bunting finished too). I wanted something a bit more 'rigid' than just fabric bunting. The only idea I'd had, before coming across the plastic canvas, had been to use circles of wood cut from a tree branch and then painted. I've had the wood cut for a long time, but just couldn't picture it looking quite as I wanted, even painted. But these plastic canvas circles give me exactly the effect I've been wanting. This is where we're up to with our making so far:


I think I'm going to need nine of them, and since they do take quite a bit of time I'm very glad I've got some enthusiastic helpers in the children! But it's not just circles that you can do. Take a look at another one of Diane's pieces - a beautiful plastic canvas wall hanging

(By the way, Diane also has a crafty mum, who has her own blog, with a very handy stitch tutorial here.)

And since starting our own plastic canvas project I've realised that I did actually have something already in the house made from the stuff...

A quaint little cottage - bought in a charity shop (of course!) for next to nothing. Although at the time I didn't appreciate exactly how it was made, it was obvious that someone had lavished a huge amount of time and love on it - exactly the kind of thing I couldn't leave sad and lonely in a shop! I don't know whether you can see from the photo above but it's 3D, the roof was sewn on but I unpicked it so that it's now removeable - not such a strong structure anymore but perfect for lots of play opportunities.


The plastic canvas has been lined with fabric throughout and stitched together to create the structure.

Here are a few more ideas on ways to use it from Pinterest:


http://www.pinterest.com/pin/165929567494521789/


http://www.pinterest.com/pin/279082508131346814/


http://www.pinterest.com/pin/279082508131389416/


http://www.pinterest.com/pin/279082508131404063/

With Christmas approaching it seems to me to be something with lots of potential for:

1. Giving as a present to a craft loving child (or grown up!)
2. Turning into Christmas decorations (you can get precut star shapes for a start)
3. Using it to make homemade presents - quite possibly getting your children to do the making, something like those bright, colourful pendants for example.

So what do you think? Are you a plastic canvas convert, like me, now?

Back tomorrow, Sally.